VISITING BEVRIJDINGSMUSEUM ZEELAND - BATTLE OF THE SCHELDT

Visiting the amazing Liberation Museum Zeeland in The Netherlands!

Liberation Museum Zeeland takes you through the eventful years of the province of Zeeland during the Second World War. The common thread in this story is the ‘Battle of the Scheldt’. The fierce battle in the autumn of 1944 between the Allied and German forces for the rule of the Westerschelde, the important waterway to the then liberated port of Antwerp. An often forgotten struggle, but crucial to the later liberation of Western Europe.

You take a journey through history. From the rise of fascism and Nazism, to the outbreak of World War II. From invading German troops, to the persecution of Jews, the resistance and liberation. You will read personal stories and discover silent witnesses of the war on Zeeland soil. You will find them in the halls of the museum but also outside, in the Liberation Park Zeeland that surrounds the museum.

During your tour you will see what brings about violence of war, both among soldiers and among the civilian population. Their misery, pain, fear and sorrow are still palpable, upon seeing the many photographs and reading and listening to their testimonies. You will also get acquainted with the war experiences of the merchant and Dutch sailors, who were deployed to the Dutch East Indies after the Second World War.

The combined stories together form the foundation of liberation museum Zeeland. A place to think about. To learn from the past for a peaceful future. Because the lessons of the Second World War are still up-to-date. That’s why our museum also offers space for the Roosevelt Experience, based on the Four Freedoms that this American president formulated in 1941. They are in agreement with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Liberation Museum Zeeland is a symbol of the knowledge that freedom is never a matter of course.